Each week, publications from the Southern California News Group’s 11 properties (Orange County Register, L.A. Daily News, Press-Enterprise, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Long Beach Press-Telegram, The Daily Breeze, San Bernardino Sun, Daily Bulletin, Redlands Daily Facts, Whittier Daily News and Pasadena-Star News) select the Athletes of the Week for their respective region.
Each athlete is then entered into the overall Southern California Athlete of the Week vote.
Click on the newspaper links below the athlete’s name to read about their performance from last week, and then vote for who you think deserves the top honor.
Readers are allowed to vote multiple times. Voting ends at midnight, but final totals aren’t always immediately reflected due to processing.
GIRLS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK VOTING
The overall winner will be announced on Friday, March 18.
Voting poll at bottom of the page.
Jai Dawson, Dana Hills: Dawson on Saturday ran the 800 meters in a time of 1 minute, 50.63 seconds at the Irvine ASICS Invitational. It’s the fastest time in California this season and No. 2 mark in the nation. Dawson’s time is the eighth-fastest in Orange County history. The record is held by Sean Krinik, Valencia, 1:48.20 in 2010. Dawson won the Division II race at the CIF State cross country championships in November.
Ryan Skjonsby, Long Beach Poly: Skjonsby pitched four scoreless innings to earn a win on opening day in the Moore League. In addition to leading Poly to a 14-1 win against Jordan at Blair Field, the senior, who also plays third base and first base, hit a triple and a double and scored three runs. After the win, Skjonsby said he likes pitching but he really enjoys hitting and is looking forward to helping Poly defend its Moore League title.
Brady Engelhardt, El Segundo: Engelhardt pitched the Eagles to a 5-1 win over No. 5 Redondo. The junior allowed one unearned run, one walk, four hits and struck out 10 in the complete-game victory. Entering this week, Engelhardt had an ERA of 0.95 in 22 innings with 31 strikeouts.
Seth Johnson, Cajon: Johnson, who has signed with Cal, won the high school boys pentathlon with 3,712 points at the Nike Indoor Nationals in Staten Island, New York. He is just the fourth Californian to win the pentathlon in event history, joining Marcell Allmond of St. Paul High of San Fe Springs (1999), David Klech of California High of San Ramon (2006) and Terry Prentice of Diamond Ranch High (2007). Johnson won the 60-meter hurdles (8.14 seconds) and tied for first in the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches). He tied for third in the long jump, placed fourth in the 1,000 meters and finished fifth in the shot put.
Kaleb Smith, Damien: The Spartans forward/center used his length and soft touch to score a game-high 23 points to go with five rebounds as he helped the Spartans defeat Fresno Clovis North 65-57 in the CIF State Division I championship game in Sacramento. The victory gave Damien its second state championship since 2015, and gave coach Mike LeDuc his first state title.
Tyler Hunt, Venice: Hunt played all 32 minutes in the CIF State Division III championship game and tallied 22 points and 10 rebounds in Venice’s 57-53 loss to Pleasant Valley. Hunt shot 8 of 12 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free throw line. He also drew a team-high four fouls in the game. Tyler’s season-long efforts helped Venice become the first Los Angeles Unified School District basketball team to play in a CIF State final since 2010.
